A Good Man is Hard to Find

This essay focuses on the conclusions of two Flannery O'Connor books, "a good man is hard to find" and "good country people."

O'Connor, a devout Catholic Christian, wrote tales that explored the idea of divine mercy as well as the concepts of good and evil. "A good man is hard to find" is a fine illustration of one of his stories.

The theme of grace in "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

The theme of grace is evident in this novel through Bailey's mother. At the beginning of the story, she was more interested in being viewed as a respectable woman in case they had an accident while on vacation but did not bother about being a decent woman (O'Connor 17).

We see this when she dresses in her best clothes and tells her son that she wants the people who see her corpse to know that she was a refined lady. We also notice her selfish act when she forces her family to go to East Tennessee instead of Florida.

The grandmother's epiphany in "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

At the end of the story though, the grandmother realizes that she has not lived a good life, touched the shoulder of the killer, starts explaining to him about Jesus Christ, and pleads for her life. It was also selfish of her since she waited until her entire family had been killed for her to start asking for forgiveness. Regardless, this epiphany resembles that of the finding of redemption by the grandmother even though she does not succeed.

The theme of divine grace and violence in "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Flannery O'Connor brings out the theme of divine grace by the violence that we see at the end of the story. In "a good man is hard to find," the grandmother acknowledges the fact that she created and Misfit and that they are bounded via Kinship ties.

Hulga believes that the imperfect can be made perfect for instance, that by hearing the word of God people would be saved. She then reaches out to the Misfit calls him his own and preaches the gospel to him.

O'Connor can explain in her stories how violence can bring people to redemption and enabling their characters to accept their reality. In this case, the grandmother renews her redemption at her point of death.

The selfishness of the grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

In the end, when Misfit shoots the grandmother he tells Bobby Lee, "She could have been a real woman if only she had someone there to shoot her every single minute of her life." By this quote, he meant that having noticed the preaching from the grandmother, she would have led a better life although this only happened because she was at a gunpoint and death was threatening her. Regardless of her selfishness, we notice that the grandmother was a strong woman (O'Connor 40).

We see this when she tries telling them a story on their way to East Tennessee, but they ignore him and the son is rude and retorts. She treats them with respect regardless of her faults. She manipulates the children to seeing the house she has been talking about though it is not her will to manipulate them.

The violent ending in "a good man is hard to find" is inevitable from the beginning because of the selfishness from the grandmother. The fact that she cannot shut up after meeting the three men with guns makes it worse for them, and it results in the murder of all the family members.

The themes in "Good Country People"

"Good country people" is a story that is based on explaining on the dangers of mistaking platitudes on the grounds of original insights. As said earlier, O'Connor's books aim at examining religious views in her characters.

The irony of "Good Country People"

"Good country people" is an ironical phrase in the book that Mrs. Hopewell uses to not only to describe herself but the people around her as well. It is ironical in that she is directly occupied with her social status and this makes her hypocritical.

Her daughter Hulga is quite a unique character in this story. This is so because O'Connor appears to use the pseudo-intellectual method in her stories and Hulga seems to be the only female even though this does not limit her to face her fate. She later realizes that her belief that she can control her life as well as other things is an erroneous idea.

The conflicts and epiphany in "Good Country People"

O'Connor can bring out interesting aspects in her characters. For instance, she uses the enlightenment by Hulga to create parallels between the Bible Salesman, Manley Pointer, and Mrs. Freeman. The events of the previous day also created conflict between Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga.

In the country people, O'Connor has come out with the epiphany of sorrow. We see this where Hulga is placed to be always in contact with a proud mother and the presence of a shrewd and feeble woman, Mrs. Freeman. The environment, which Hulga is placed, is meant to develop sorrow and sympathy and appall sensitive people.

Hulga's mother destroys her relationship with her daughter by always mouthing pseudo- philosophical words when she knows quite well that her daughter has a Ph.D. in Philosophy.

The strained relationship between Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell

Mrs. Hopewell does not acknowledge her daughter in any way. We see that she introduces Mrs. Freeman's daughters and brags about them while they stroll but admits Hulga as brilliant only because she has a Ph.D. in philosophy and she only says, "My daughter is a philosopher."

Mrs. Hopewell keeps saying, "Everybody is different," but does not acknowledge her daughter. She thinks that her daughter is immature by the way she dresses her rude attitude and when that she changed her name from Joy to Hulga. These two women have constant fights because of Hulga's Ph.D., which seems to be the biggest problem.

This is so because Mrs. Hopewell says that children have to go to school to learn and be better people in life but on the other hand, Hulga has studied to her Ph.D. levels but still cannot see the essence of studying. Her manner of dressing does not impress Mrs. Hopewell, which is also a contributor to their cast misunderstandings.

The epiphany of sorrow in "Good Country People"

The epiphany of sorrow is brought out clearly in this story by the fact that Hulga lost her leg, cannot walk, and is stuck in her wheelchair and according to the doctor; Hulga will not make it to forty years because of her weary heart. She is deprived of her dancing which Mrs. Hopewell refers to a normal life.

Mrs. Hopewell is angry at Hulga's behaviors but knows that she does not have much of choice rather than to accept her daughter, as she is (O'Connor 18). It becomes difficult for Mrs. Hopewell to take her daughter, which results in Hulga withdrawing from her mother. She is no longer interested in forming any meaningful relationship afterward and leads a reckless life.

It is evident when her mother explains her favorite platitude, but Hulga does not seem to bother; O'Connor explains it as; "her icy blue eyes were projecting a look like that of someone who had achieved blindness and was willing to keep it that way."

Hulga's realization in "Good Country People"

With her Ph.D. degree in philosophy, Hulga has subscribed to an aesthetic religion and believed that there is no existence of the Supreme Being or after-life. Nevertheless, Mrs. Freeman is said to be a shrew, a free spirit but is nosy and wants to know everything regarding Mrs. Hopewell.

She is manipulative where she and Manley pointer are seen to be real country people, but both of them have ulterior motives towards Hulga's wooden leg. At the end of "Good country people," Manley arranges a picnic, and when they meet, they kiss and tell Hulga that to prove her love for him, she has to show him her wooden leg. It takes her by surprise since she has never done that before but still goes ahead.

Hulga's moment of grace in "Good Country People"

Hulga's moment of grace, or rather an epiphany occurs when Manley betrays her faith in him and destructs her intellectual pretensions. Before Manley betraying Hulga, Hulga viewed herself to be superior intellectually to everyone else. Being an atheist, she relies on the worldly wisdom regardless of it contradicting the Bible.

Work Cited

O'connor, Flannery. A good man is hard to find: And other stories. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1977.